New Delhi Railway Station Redevelopment: Fresh Tender Floated With Reduced Scope Of Work

Reducing the scope of work, the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) has issued a fresh tender for the much-awaited redevelopment of the New Delhi Railway Station at an estimated cost of Rs 4,700 crore.

The redevelopment work would be undertaken in the 3.5 lakh sq m under Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) model as against 4.5 lakh sq m taken up earlier, said RLDA Executive Director Vivek Saxena, responsible for executing the ambitious project.

The tender was discharged in May this year as the bidders quoted much higher price than the allotted cost.

This is the fourth time that the RLDA is announcing a tender for this project with both RFQ and RFP called twice each.

Since the cabinet has already approved the project so the Railways did not seek cabinet approval again for re-tendering the project.

"The process was a bit complicated earlier now it has been simplified. We are hoping that this time the bidding process would be successful," said Saxena.

Indian infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) was the lowest bidder quoting Rs 8,740 crore for the re-development of New Delhi railway station, exceeding the Indian Railways estimate of Rs 5,000 crore last time.

Only two firms — L& T and Shapoorji Pallonji — submitted the bids for the New Delhi station redevelopment project last time.

The RLDA has reduced the scope of commercial development plan as it would be taken up later, according to the revised plan.

RLDA has consulted over a dozen central and state departments this time and has procured no objection certificates from them for the project.

The project would be executed in Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract model instead of a PPP model.

The redevelopment project is part of the Centre’s plan to modernise most high-density stations, to ease passenger movement and improve the business prospects of these assets.

The mega project involves replacing the existing structure with a twin dome-shaped facade at New Delhi station.

Once completed, it would be an iconic structure to be identified with the Capital city of India.